A true historian, senior Dylan Ducatte has spent her time at Athens fully engaged in all the school’s social studies classes. Throughout her time at Athens Drive, she has found ways to take that interest and use it to help other students get more involved in civic engagement.
Over the years, Ducatte has sparked a particular interest in classes she has taken with Sarah Shouse, Social Studies teacher. Shouse taught her Psychology, AP United States History, and AP Comparative Government, all of which Ducatte shares her fondest memories with.
“I would have lunch a lot in Shouse’s room. I had a really fun time there,” said Ducatte. “I really loved AP Comparative Government class, that was really fun. The best memories were anything related to that, whether it was having lunch with Ms. Shouse, [or] working on an [AP United States History] project,”
Ducatte won this year’s Social Studies Enthusiast award for her dedication to the subject at the senior awards ceremony.
“I took basically all the social studies APs I could. I’ve always been interested in everything,” said Ducatte.
Ducatte played a major role in the creation of the Athens Drive chapter of the National Social Studies Honor Society, as well as creating both the Drive Inquiry Club and Crossing the Divide Club.
“So I started Crossing the Divide my junior year. It’s like a writing journalism club; it kind of brings together writers, and we talk about events and political topics, and we condense it,” said Ducatte.
Crossing the Divide works against the downfalls of modern technology’s effect on teenage civic engagement.
“[News] is typically not very interesting to high school students, and it’s very overwhelming a lot of the time…There is so much information out there that I wanted to create a hub where you can get the simplified information that’s digestible to high school students,” said Ducatte.
“Understanding how to research them [news events] so you’re not getting just one-sided points of view is really just mature beyond her years,” said Shouse.
Overall, Shouse highlights Ducatte’s ambition for Social Studies and how she has had such an impact on the Athens Drive community.
“Her interest in social studies, her desire to create the National Social Studies Honor Society and to have Crossing the Divide Club…to have information, and to encourage people, her peers, to be more invested in social issues is special,” said Shouse.
Not only is Ducatte ambitious, but she also has remarkable character, Shouse points out.
“There are no weird masks. There’s no judgment. She’s kind…She’s just a genuine, nice person.”
